The Null Device

Telstra, Australia's telecommunications backbone quasi-monopolist, is going to be broken up, into separate wholesale and retail arms at least. Which sounds like good news for Australian internet users.

¶ australia business internet politics telstra 0 Share

Let's hear it for the Telstra marketing people. Every so often, my mobile phone bill comes with a booklet titled "conversations" (note the stylishly lower-case title), containing announcements of new services, SMS competitions and other attempts to get the consumer to work up a higher phone bill. To keep up the façade that the booklet is a fun free magazine, and not, in fact, an attempt to sell you something, the "news" and advertising are interspersed with a small amount of copywritten, non-promotional "fun" material, such as some highly dubious "conversation starters":

• Conversation Starter #2: Is a zebra white with black stripes or black with white stripes?
• Conversation Starter #3: Did you know our nose and ears never stop growing?
• Conversation Starter #6: Why is it called an eggplant? It's not an egg or a plant.

I can totally see these being used as an icebreaker at parties. Or indeed to approach attractive strangers in a bar.

YOU: "Did you know that pearls melt in vinegar?"
ATTRACTIVE STRANGER: "Wow! I never knew that..."
YOU: "It's true. And the Grand Canyon could hold about 900 trillion footballs... (nervous giggle) That's a *lot* of footballs!"
ATTRACTIVE STRANGER: (wide-eyed) "Reeally?"

Try it!

¶ marketing stupid telstra 6 Share